Israel said it will close its only crossing from the Gaza Strip for workers yesterday in response to overnight rocket fire, stopping short of conducting retaliatory strikes in an apparent bid to ease tensions.
The rocket attacks on Friday night and yesterday morning followed days of clashes at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and a month of deadly violence.
The unrest - which comes as the festival of Passover overlaps with the fasting month of Ramadan - has sparked fears of a wider conflict, one year after similar violence led to an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza-based fighters.
“Following the rockets fired toward Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip last night, it was decided that crossings into Israel for Gazan merchants and workers through the Erez Crossing will not be permitted this upcoming Sunday,” said COGAT, a unit of the Israeli defence ministry responsible for Palestinian civil affairs.
Two rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel on Friday night, one of them reaching Israeli territory, the other falling short and striking near a residential building in northern Gaza, sources on both sides said.
A third rocket was fired at Israel yesterday morning, the army said, with no air raid sirens activated for any of the launches.
They followed rocket attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, and came as Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters at Al-Aqsa Mosque, leaving at least one man in hospital in serious condition.
Israel had retaliated against those attacks with air strikes, but in an apparent desire to prevent further violence, shifted its response this time to the painful economic measure of closing Erez, implying that further rockets would extend the penalty.
“The reopening of the crossing will be decided in accordance with a security situational assessment,” COGAT said.
Employment in Israel is a lifeline for people in Gaza, where according to a recent World Bank report nearly half of the 2.3mn population is unemployed.
More than 200 people, mostly Palestinians, have been wounded in clashes in and around Al-Aqsa in the past week.
Palestinians have been outraged by massive Israeli police deployment.
Early on Friday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said 57 people were wounded after police stormed the compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Morning prayers yesterday, however, passed without incident, with Israeli officials estimating that 16,000 Muslims took part.
Israel has tightened restrictions on numbers for all religious festivals after a stampede at a festival last April caused the death of 45 men and boys.
The escalating unrest prompted concern at the United Nations, which on Thursday demanded a probe into the actions of Israeli police.
“The use of force by Israeli police resulting in widespread injuries among worshippers and staff in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound must be promptly, impartially, independently and transparently investigated,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The unrest in Jerusalem stirred emotions among Israel’s Arab population, with hundreds marching in the Arab-Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm.
Police said they had arrested four masked men in Umm al-Fahm who had “fired flares, thrown stones at security forces and burnt tyres on the main road”.